On September 24, 2019, the General Court annulled a €33.6 million fine imposed by the Commission on HSBC for its participation in the Euro Interest Rate Derivatives (“EIRD”) cartel.[1] The General Court upheld the infringement finding, but annulled the fine because the Commission had failed to sufficiently explain its fine calculation methodology, as previously reported.[2]

On June 28, 2021, the Commission re-adopted the decision against HSBC, reducing the fine to €31.7 million and explaining the fine calculation methodology in further detail.[3] On the same date, the Commission also re-adopted and amended the decision against Crédit Agricole and JP Morgan Chase correcting the same procedural irregularity. Further detail will be provided in future newsletters once the detailed reasoning is made available.


[1]      HSBC Holdings and Others v. Commission (Case T-105/17) EU:T:2019:675.

[2]      See, our August/September 2019 EU Competition Law Newsletter. The Commission applied a 98.849% reduction rate to HSBC’s basic fine amount.

[3]      Euro Interest Rate Derivatives (Case COMP/AT.39914), Commission decision of June 28, 2021.